Coaches made NIC unique

January 01, 2006|AL LESAR

SOUTH BEND -- Talk of artificial joint replacements and pension plans replaced the friendly sniping that used to bind these guys. Friday night, about 20 former Northern Indiana Conference boys basketball coaches were recognized for their accomplishments at halftime of the NIC Holiday Tourney championship game at Clay. Most downplayed their contributions. Some blushed at the attention. Others humbly nodded and grudgingly acknowledged the applause from the large crowd with a slight wave. What a contrast from the people they used to be. Veteran officials John Goss and Mike Waisnora reminded Dan Steinke of the verbal lashings he delivered from the Michigan City Elston bench. "You call this even?! You call this even?!" the two chimed in, doing their best imitation of the red-faced ex-Red Devil boss. Tom Hess, 63, who had some pretty good teams at Clay before Tom DeBaets won a state title, recalled his battles with Washington's John Solmos. "Our benches were a lot closer together (at Clay) than they are now," Hess said. "He'd yell down at me, 'You gonna win this game? How's come you're not trying to win it? If I win it, I'll buy tonight.' Then, we'd meet some place, eat after the game and have a beer. "Those times, it wasn't a personal grudge. It was like playing a game of cards. You'd hope the luck of the draw and the luck of the game comes out for you." Luck may have been a factor, but the talent, desire and intensity many of these guys showed in their hey-days went a long way toward fashioning their success. An assistant principal at Mishawaka now, Jerome Calderone used to work himself into a lather on the Cavemen sidelines. Bob Berger's a mild, unassuming guy who could bellow with the best of them while prowling Riley's "'Cat House" at Jackson Middle School. George Leonakis, a fiery Greek, was never at a loss for words while dealing with his teams from South Bend Central, LaSalle and Elkhart Central. "I think I would like to still be coaching," said Leonakis, 66. "What I don't know is if the kids could handle me. I know I could handle the kids. Would they do the things I want, or would they challenge me and quit? "I don't need to come here to get the itch. I just love the game." Steinke, who continues to dabble in driver's ed instruction and some golf course duties since retiring from Elston a few years ago, gives a devilish smile about the really funny stories he'd rather keep private. There's no hiding his admiration for the guys flanking him. "These are all the guys I was competitive with and against for so many years," Steinke said. "Seventeen years as the head coach at Elston, so many memories ... so many great games ..." And maybe even a few bad ones here and there. Along the way, though, it was more about the journey than the destination. "Years ago, we all probably coached against each other as freshman coaches; then junior varsity; then varsity," Hess said. "That's how it was. You got to know guys and you moved up together. It's not that way in a lot of places now." The thread that binds this group is its genuine appreciation for the competitive makeup of the Northern Indiana Conference. "Even after I was done (coaching), when Michigan City was merging (Elston and Rogers) into one high school, my preference was to stay in the NIC," said Steinke. The new Michigan City Wolves followed Rogers' lead into the Duneland Conference. "It was so competitive -- top to bottom," Steinke said of the allure of the league. "Playing an NIC game on Friday night made it tough to come back against someone else Saturday." "It was probably as classy a conference as there was in the state," Leonakis said. "The only one that even approached it was (the North Central Conference). The two of us were the premiere conferences in Indiana." "One thing that made the NIC special, from top to bottom, you could get beat on any given night," Hess said. "People always talk about the North Central Conference being the top conference in the state. It was a pretty good conference, they had some pretty good teams, but it was nowhere as competitive." No brag, just fact -- facts made possible because of a bunch of guys who made the league pretty special.